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[AbsolutBro]

Just got back from Miniature Market on my lunch break. I found a copy of Shadowrun Crossfire for $28 and Dungeon Petz for $30 in the ding/dent section. I think Dungeon Petz will make a great birthday present for my oldest daughter.

Shadowrun Crossfire has 1 expansion (High Caliber Ops) with extra missions / black market, has anyone played it and is it worth it? Radho and Zee Garcia seems to like it and the base game a lot.

I have played a ton of Shadowrun Crossfire, and I love the game. High Calibur Ops is a pretty great expansion that introduces cross color cards, which do a really good job of breaking up the perceived "I am Red/The Face, I should buy the red cards". It also introduces a few new uses for Karma, which is always good.

As for the game, I am going to level with you: it's hard. Especially at the beginning, the first mission (Crossfire) is fucking hard. You will get frustrated, it will possibly feel unwinable. Stick with it. I know Zee Garcia in one of the Dice Tower videos suggested starting with a handful of Karma, and I can see why. The first time you do beat it though? Oh man does that feel good. Also, the game's official rules for playing with <4 players is t double roles on a single character. I honestly suggest just running multple characters instead. So rather than 2 players each running one character with two roles, you each run two characters with a role per character. It just works better.

One thing that you will need to get used to is managing stagger. Basically, when you take damage that would knock you below 1 HP, regardless of how much damage you take at one time you go to "Staggered". While staggered, any amount of damage will send you CRITICAL and begin an evac run. What this means is, healing someone for less than the damage they are about to stagger from is pointless. If you are about to take 4 damage, and you only have 1 HP, healing 2 is pointless. Timing things like that is absolutely crucial to winning the game early on. The number of times my orc Street Samurai was staggered in a run become a running joke.

It is a great and VERY challenging game, but still so very fun. I think High Calibur Ops is probably a good pick up if you think you will enjoy the game; several of the missions are designed for new players and ever so slightly easier than the basic box's Crossfire mission.

But throw out the "you cannot talk" enemies. That game is all about communication, those enemies are stupidly designed bullshit.

 

[chifanpoe]

I have played a ton of Shadowrun Crossfire, and I love the game. High Calibur Ops is a pretty great expansion that introduces cross color cards, which do a really good job of breaking up the perceived "I am Red/The Face, I should buy the red cards". It also introduces a few new uses for Karma, which is always good.

As for the game, I am going to level with you: it's hard. Especially at the beginning, the first mission (Crossfire) is fucking hard. You will get frustrated, it will possibly feel unwinable. Stick with it. I know Zee Garcia in one of the Dice Tower videos suggested starting with a handful of Karma, and I can see why. The first time you do beat it though? Oh man does that feel good. Also, the game's official rules for playing with <4 players is t double roles on a single character. I honestly suggest just running multple characters instead. So rather than 2 players each running one character with two roles, you each run two characters with a role per character. It just works better.

One thing that you will need to get used to is managing stagger. Basically, when you take damage that would knock you below 1 HP, regardless of how much damage you take at one time you go to "Staggered". While staggered, any amount of damage will send you CRITICAL and begin an evac run. What this means is, healing someone for less than the damage they are about to stagger from is pointless. If you are about to take 4 damage, and you only have 1 HP, healing 2 is pointless. Timing things like that is absolutely crucial to winning the game early on. The number of times my orc Street Samurai was staggered in a run become a running joke.

It is a great and VERY challenging game, but still so very fun. I think High Calibur Ops is probably a good pick up if you think you will enjoy the game; several of the missions are designed for new players and ever so slightly easier than the basic box's Crossfire mission.

But throw out the "you cannot talk" enemies. That game is all about communication, those enemies are stupidly designed bullshit.

Great tips, thank you for that. I read several folks talking about it being hard, but I am ok with that. I enjoy Ghost Stories, Robinson Crusoe, and Gloomhaven co-op/solo so I should be well prepared for a beatdown.

I will look for those "you cannot talk" guys and put them aside.

 

[Blizzard]

I am feeling so much regret over not backing that Kickstarter now...

I paid for the regret with a large eBay purchase. Lesson learned for next time I guess, ouch.

 

[AbsolutBro]

Great tips, thank you for that. I read several folks talking about it being hard, but I am ok with that. I enjoy Ghost Stories, Robinson Crusoe, and Gloomhaven co-op/solo so I should be well prepared for a beatdown.

I will look for those "you cannot talk" guys and put them aside.

To be clear, those "cannot talk" dudes are in High Caliber Ops, so if you start with just the basic box you won't run into them.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Rising Sun has broken Kickstarter.com

 

[BattleMonkey]

The figs are amazing, but Rising Sun from the play vids just seems kinda.... dull

 

[Blizzard]

One thing I was concerned about regarding Gloomhaven was character retirement. I thought it might lock out classes. But nope, you can retire a character and start a new one with the same class.

 

[JSR_Cube]

Rising Sun @ $100 plus shipping for the base game. Eep. I know it has lots of minis but is the game really that good? We haven't even hit any add-ons yet.

 

[AstroLad]

Rising Sun @ $100 plus shipping for the base game. Eep. I know it has lots of minis but is the game really that good? We haven't even hit any add-ons yet.

Isn't the game like Blood Rage meets Diplomacy? I couldn't think of too many high-profile BG KSes less appealing to me, but people do love their minis and Eric Lang.

 

[toddhunter]

Rising Sun @ $100 plus shipping for the base game. Eep. I know it has lots of minis but is the game really that good? We haven't even hit any add-ons yet.

It is now officially the best game with lots of minis up until the exact moment when the next game with lots of minis hits kickstarter.

 

[AstroLad]

Honestly I wonder what Eric Lang commands these days because yeah yeah minis and CMON, but the dude just brings these things to the next level (and I say this as someone who dislikes ~80%+ of his designs).

 

[-tetsuo-]

Actually doesn't have that many minis compared to lots of games on KS now. Deep Madness had like 175 or some shit.

 

[Keasar]

Compared to many other Kickstarters I've seen from CMON or similar, it's very miniature light. The one's in there though seem to be freaking fantastic. I am curious though if this is any good, so many seem to be raving about Blood Rage and I do find the Asian setting interesting.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Actually doesn't have that many minis compared to lots of games on KS now. Deep Madness had like 175 or some shit.

We all know they are going to unlock a shit ton more minis, and fluff it up with alot of repeats of shit in the core set.

 

[AstroLad]

I definitely like "quality over quantity" if that's a thing anyone's ever interested in doing hahah. Also pre-painted, but I'm sure the market for pre-painted is smaller b/c of the hobby angle (and huge costs would push against that too)? Are there really THAT many people who paint minis? I look at stuff like KM -- wouldn't that take like a year as a full-time job basically to get properly painted? And there's like a new one of these every week.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I definitely like "quality over quantity" if that's a thing anyone's ever interested in doing hahah. Also pre-painted, but I'm sure the market for pre-painted is smaller b/c of the hobby angle (and huge costs would push against that too)? Are there really THAT many people who paint minis? I look at stuff like KM -- wouldn't that take like a year as a full-time job basically to get properly painted? And there's like a new one of these every week.

GKR kinda is doing opposite, with less minis but they are real high quality and main ones are painted as well. You can pay more to get extra unpainted versions added to your pledge for that game for the hobbyist. Higher quality the mini, the better the paint job it needs usually. An awesome mini with a mediocre paint job just ruins the mini.

And yea it's getting tiresome these giant board games that really don't need tons of minis at all. Rising Sun especially doesn't feel like the type of game that needs these minis at all, but it's what is pushing sales so they are gonna keep doing this with games now.

 

[Palmer_v1]

I'd call myself a miniatures gamer moreso than a board gamer and I'm super burned out on all the kickstarters with minis.

 

[panty]

I really enjoy minis but I'm kinda in the same boat. Give me something new.

That said I'm looking forward to this and of course I backed it. The whole thing looks pretty detailed and interesting and I've enjoyed Lang's games so I'm sure this'll deliver as well.

 

[Iced]

Has anyone here played The Last Friday? I'm always tempted to pick it up but it got fairly lukewarm reviews. Just noticed it's in stock at my local game store.

 

[Lupercal]

Has anyone here played The Last Friday? I'm always tempted to pick it up but it got fairly lukewarm reviews. Just noticed it's in stock at my local game store.

I'd take it if you can get a good deal.
I like it but for 60€ here, a bit steep.

 

[HashtagLapsed]

I'll probably back Rising Sun. I really like the sound of a lot of the gameplay elements and really like the theme.

I generally don't care so much about minis and am perfectly happy with abstract wooden tokens or whatever, but I really do like the design of the minis here. They look stunning, but I would be as interested in the game without them so, yeah.

I find some of the mini heavy games kind of disappointing. Like, Rum and Bones is fun but I don't find the minis that great and also the game can become extremely unbalanced. If you are playing with someone who knows what they are doing and they have the first turn, they can very easily win the game without much struggle and the expansions unbalance things more, my group has found. Its a fun game, there is just a lot of weird design decisions and characters that can do stupid amounts of damage. Each faction isn't really balanced fairly against each other faction too. I don't know, it is just an example to me of a fun game, but style over substance.

 

[Polioliolio]

So I've been painting the miniatures in Adrenaline over the last two weeks.

There's only five of them, but I'm having a heck of a time deciding on the colors, and exactly what is what when it comes to the details on the minis. It's pretty annoying. I mean they look cool, but there are few official illustrations of the characters in the game manual. One per character basically, and only shows their upper body, and to boot, the figures are designed somewhat differently than illustrated..

It's a pain in the ass. Definitely going to be more aware of this kind of thing when I paint my next project. I like simple minis with obvious and fewer details! Constantly wondering "okay, what is this detail supposed to be" is driving me bonkers.

Oh, quick question. I'm going to seal these by dipping them in a clear min wax varnish and brushing off the excess. I liked how that worked out for my last night on earth zombies. But I want to cover the sides of the base and underside in one go... What's the best way to do this?? I heard someone say, about priming, that they hot glue the mini to a nail head, then put the nail into a hole in a cardboard box to keep it still.. Any other thoughts?


Edit:

One more thing.. Any thoughts on Gloom expansions? I picked up Gloom, figure I'd get the expansions as well, but I hear different things about them... Interestingly, in the reviews for each, there's at least one person who says "if you get one expansion, this is the best one". There's enough criticism I think of each one, that it's hard to tell if I should even get them all.. So what are your thoughts on Gloom, and which expansions do you find integral, or adding to the game in the most fun way?

 

[Mikeside]

So I'm a late backer for Deep Madness, which looks really fun.

I just made the mistake of looking back at a few of the KS updates. Now I'm backing the expansions too.

Everything about this game just speaks to me. Yum.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Has anyone here played The Last Friday? I'm always tempted to pick it up but it got fairly lukewarm reviews. Just noticed it's in stock at my local game store.

It's a neat concept and lot of great ideas, but I think it's biggest issue is that it's a little slow for a game that is super simple. Game is also skewed in favor of the campers, the designer himself has said that the killer will win about 40% of the games only so it does feel lop sided. Wouldn't be such a issue if the game played faster, but each chapter takes quite a bit of time to play through.

We all kinda like it but it's a mess rule wise and we wish it was better. We've been considering ways to maybe try and improve the game via some home rules.

 

[XShagrath]

Deep Madness looks cool from a glance, but I'm always cautious about big productions like that from first-time designers.

 

[Iced]

It's a neat concept and lot of great ideas, but I think it's biggest issue is that it's a little slow for a game that is super simple. Game is also skewed in favor of the campers, the designer himself has said that the killer will win about 40% of the games only so it does feel lop sided. Wouldn't be such a issue if the game played faster, but each chapter takes quite a bit of time to play through.

We all kinda like it but it's a mess rule wise and we wish it was better. We've been considering ways to maybe try and improve the game via some home rules.

Are the rules such that you are constantly going back to the rule book to get clarity on certain situations?

 

[BattleMonkey]

Are the rules such that you are constantly going back to the rule book to get clarity on certain situations?

Sometimes, and part of it is cause the game rules are so simple that they could have been more clear on some odd situations.

 

[chifanpoe]

I showed my kids both Rising Sun and GKR last-night we watch videos on both and read through all KS info. After talking about what we thought would be more fun and come to the table more, we took a vote. The results 3:0, GKR it is then (my youngest said it will be like King of Tokyo vs Voltron!).

Now with Delve, Dinosaur Island, and GKR backed I think we are good until Charterstone hits retail at the end of the year.


I also played a few games of Shadowrun Crossfire last-night solo, what a fun and tough game, love it.

 

[fenners]

I showed my kids both Rising Sun and GKR last-night we watch videos on both and read through all KS info. After talking about what we thought would be more fun and come to the table more, we took a vote. The results 3:0, GKR it is then (my youngest said it will be like King of Tokyo vs Voltron!).

Monsterapocalypse meets the world of Sunset Overdrive? Hmmmm.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I showed my kids both Rising Sun and GKR last-night we watch videos on both and read through all KS info. After talking about what we thought would be more fun and come to the table more, we took a vote. The results 3:0, GKR it is then (my youngest said it will be like King of Tokyo vs Voltron!).

Now with Delve, Dinosaur Island, and GKR backed I think we are good until Charterstone hits retail at the end of the year.


I also played a few games of Shadowrun Crossfire last-night solo, what a fun and tough game, love it.

GKR does seem to be a more fun game. Still not sure if worth going in on kickstarter or waiting though.

 

[Xater]

The Golden Geek Awards this year are just &#128580;

 

[AstroLad]

The Golden Geek Awards this year are just &#128580;

SCYTHE SCYTHE SCYTHE SCYTHE

Surprised it didn't win stuff like sports and kids game of the year too.

 

[Blizzard]

I think Scythe is quite a good game, at least.

 

[AstroLad]

I think Scythe is quite a good game, at least.

I'm not upset at all or anything, but it's kind of hilarious it was even included in categories like "Best Thematic Game" (whu?). And then winning rando categories that aren't even the game's strength like best solo game, where there are WAY better alternatives is just one of those popularity-contest things. This is definitely to be expected though, and I have nothing against Scythe and would actually say historically Golden Geek is one of the better awards out there.

 

[Xater]

I'm not upset at all or anything, but it's kind of hilarious it was even included in categories like "Best Thematic Game" (whu?). And then winning rando categories that aren't even the game's strength like best solo game, where there are WAY better alternatives is just one of those popularity-contest things. This is definitely to be expected though, and I have nothing against Scythe and would actually say historically Golden Geek is one of the better awards out there.

Exactly. I haven't even played. I know I would probably enjoy it, but it's just so weird seeing that game sweep everything. It just reeks of flavor if the moment.

 

[HashtagLapsed]

I pretty much expected this years awards to be a lot of Scythe/Rebellion/Terraforming Mars. I still have to play TM.

Thew vidogame section is pretty funny. Civ VI and XCOM 2 are like Scythe in the BG section.

 

[Lyng]

I'm not upset at all or anything, but it's kind of hilarious it was even included in categories like "Best Thematic Game" (whu?). And then winning rando categories that aren't even the game's strength like best solo game, where there are WAY better alternatives is just one of those popularity-contest things. This is definitely to be expected though, and I have nothing against Scythe and would actually say historically Golden Geek is one of the better awards out there.

To be fair the golden geek has allways been a popularity contest. I think Scythe is fine for game of the year and art of the year. Most thematic and solo of the year is weird though.
Especially when amazing titles like Fallen Skies and Liberty or Death exist.

Edit: Got Blood Rage to the table. Not a bad game at all. Going to keep it in the collection. Its not top 10 material but a nice drafting/area-controlish game.

 

[Blizzard]

I'm not upset at all or anything, but it's kind of hilarious it was even included in categories like "Best Thematic Game" (whu?). And then winning rando categories that aren't even the game's strength like best solo game, where there are WAY better alternatives is just one of those popularity-contest things. This is definitely to be expected though, and I have nothing against Scythe and would actually say historically Golden Geek is one of the better awards out there.

I will say that Scythe has a VERY strong solo game, with a really neat automa implementation that feels human-ish. The only solo competitor this year is Feast for Odin that I can think of.

 

[Lyng]

I will say that Scythe has a VERY strong solo game, with a really neat automa implementation that feels human-ish. The only solo competitor this year is Feast for Odin that I can think of.

The AI in Liberty or Death is leagues above Scythe.

 

[AstroLad]

I will say that Scythe has a VERY strong solo game, with a really neat automa implementation that feels human-ish. The only solo competitor this year is Feast for Odin that I can think of.

Arkham LCG is the best solo game I've ever played but yeah it's a very ymmv thing. I will say Scythe is not personally my favorite art of the year but I think it's very deserving of that award anyway. Really strong year for game art.

 

[HashtagLapsed]

Yeah, I'd give Arkham LCG best solo game of the year for me.

Although I am yet to play A Feast for Odin.

 

[chifanpoe]

Well I am 7 games in now on Shadowrun: Crossfire. All solo plays. 0 for 7 with 6 aborts and 1 failure. I really like it so far, it could be one of my favorite deck builders.


^^^ - If I was picking best solo game of 2017 it would be Gloomhaven. To be fair I would rate it best game you could play solo or in a co-op group ever though.

 

[Neverfade]

Best solo game is thinking about the next time you're going to play Inis.

 

[toddhunter]

Well I am 7 games in now on Shadowrun: Crossfire. All solo plays. 0 for 7 with 6 aborts and 1 failure. I really like it so far, it could be one of my favorite deck builders.

^^^ - If I was picking best solo game of 2017 it would be Gloomhaven. To be fair I would rate it best game you could play solo ever though.

My issue is would you play it solo over say Baldurs Gate 2? Personally I wouldn't which is where a game like scythe might be a better solo experience... at least until the upcoming digital version anyway.

 

[HashtagLapsed]

Best solo game is thinking about the next time you're going to play Inis.

That too.

I think I have been playing at least 4-5 games of Inis a week for a month or so now and every game is still really exciting and fun.

 

[chifanpoe]

My issue is would you play it solo over say Baldurs Gate 2? Personally I wouldn't which is where a game like scythe might be a better solo experience... at least until the upcoming digital version anyway.

Yes, I would play Gloomhaven(or Scythe) solo over Baldurs Gate 2 any day of the week. I would say the same for just about any PC RPG. They are generally a walk in the park strategically when compared. The Automa in normal or higher modes in Scythe is also brutal.

I generally don't compare digital games to table top games but right now it is a fight for my game time between Gloomhaven, Breath of the Wild, Santorini, and Shadowrun.

 

[AstroLad]

Well I am 7 games in now on Shadowrun: Crossfire. All solo plays. 0 for 7 with 6 aborts and 1 failure. I really like it so far, it could be one of my favorite deck builders.


^^^ - If I was picking best solo game of 2017 it would be Gloomhaven. To be fair I would rate it best game you could play solo or in a co-op group ever though.

If you like Shadowrun a lot, I'd suggest picking up High Caliber Ops. Really rounds out the base game perfectly with mixed characters (meaning better balance with <4) and an Intro/Beginner mission that actually is a beginner mission. Also lots of new cards to buy, which is fun.

 

[chifanpoe]

If you like Shadowrun a lot, I'd suggest picking up High Caliber Ops. Really rounds out the base game perfectly with mixed characters (meaning better balance with <4) and an Intro/Beginner mission that actually is a beginner mission. Also lots of new cards to buy, which is fun.

I did just that on my way home from work, thankfully Miniature Market had it in stock($16).

 

[EYEL1NER]

Just got back from a good game night. We rounded up six people for this session, to include a person new to the group, and played Battlestar Galactica. Only one in the group had played it before but he's played it something like 60 times he said. It was the base game plus the Pegasus expansion. I have always been worried going into it that the game wouldn't click with me since I know nothing about the show but I liked it well-enough. The person new to the group showed up in the middle of setup though and the teacher accidentally dealt out an extra Cylon card, so there wound up being only two humans at the end, with me being one of them. No one knew about that mistake except the guy who revealed himself to be a Cyclon at the end, because he saw two people reveal themselves to be Cylons and thought there must have been a mistake but figured he would go with it since he had a Cylon card from the beginning before the new person showed up. So the deck was stacked against the other human and I. After about 4.5 hours or so we had gotten two spots away from being able to jump early and win the game, we already had 8 jumps or jump points under our belt. The Centurians did us in though. Still quite a bit of fun but hopefully everything goes correctly next time.
After that we roped a seventh person into playing three quick games of Avalon before the group split for the night.

 

[Blizzard]

The AI in Liberty or Death is leagues above Scythe.

As far as I remember, I've literally never heard of Liberty or Death before this page, so maybe that's part of it. Did it release last year? I failed at finding a release date on BGG/google.

*edit* Looking into it, it appears wargame-ish and also has a very dry theme, which probably makes it more niche than Scythe. There are probably some wargames with very involved AIs, but for generally accessible solo play something more traditional is likely to be best received I think.